UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


REMARKS 


THE  FUNERAL 


OP 


MRS.  LOUISE  LIVINGSTON, 


WIDOW  OF  EDWARD  LIVINGSTON, 


REV.   ALBERT  S.   HUNT. 


NEW  YORK: 

PRINTED  FOR  PRIVATE  DISTRIBUTION. 
1861. 


IT  will  be  easy  for  such  as  did  not  hear  these  remarks, 
to  discover  that  a  portion  of  them  were  made  at  Mont- 

Cl  gornery  Place,  before  the  remains  of  Mrs.  Livingston 
were  removed  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 

$      Rhinebeck,  where  the  public  ceremonies  were  conduct- 

f^f 

»       ed.      As  they  are  printed  for  intimate  friends,  and  not 
published  for  the  world,  it  has  been  thought  best  to  re- 
jp       tain  the  simple  form  in  which  they  were  first  made.     For 
jn       the  same  reason,  a  few  facts  and  reflections  in  reference 
>•       to  Mrs.  Livingston's  life  and  character,  with  which  the 
world  has  nothing  to  do,  will  be  found  blended  with 
the  words  which  were  spoken  at  her  funeral. 
g  A.  S.  H. 


REMARKS. 


DEATH  has  taken  a  friend  from  our  fellow- 
ship. She  has  entered  the  paradise  above,  and 
it  would  be  sinful  for  us  to  wish  her  back,  even 
to  this  home  of  surpassing  loveliness  which  she 
has  left. 

I  stand  not  here  to  eulogize  the  dead ;  but  as 
one  whom  she  was  pleased  to  honor  with  her 
friendship,  I  count  myself  happy  in  being  per- 
mitted to  speak  a  few  words  to  those  whom 
she  loved,  before  we  bear  her  from  the  dwelling 
where  for  years  she  has  welcomed  her  friends, 
with  a  grace  and  a  warmth  of  affection  all  her 
own.  Those  who  have  ever  felt  the  warm  press- 
ure of  her  hands, — for  she  usually  gave  more 
than  one, — can  never  forget  it.  She  was  most 


6       REMARKS  MADE  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

happy  when  she  could  promote  the  highest  hap- 
piness of  those  about  her.  Great  efforts  were 
never  great  to  her,  nor  trifles  small,  if  they 
could  augment  the  pleasure  of  her  friends.  We 
shall  ever  remember  the  illustration  her  life  has 
left  us  of  a  fact  w^hich  the  world  is  slow  to  re- 
ceive, that  true  hospitality  and  genuine  polite- 
ness can  only  spring  from  a  loving  heart.  It 
is  well,  also,  that  here  and  now  I  should  speak 
of  her  peculiar  interest  in  the  welfare  of  those 
who  ministered  unto  her.  We  may  say  with 
truth  she  tenderly  loved  them  all.  There  are 
those  on  every  side  of  me  whose  tears  testify 
how  well  they  know  this.  They  cannot  but 
remember  with  what  expressions  of  gracious 
pleasure,  they  were  ever  rewarded  for  their  ef- 
forts to  increase  her  comforts  or  her  joys,  and 
with  what  considerate  kindness  she  was  ever 
fearing  to  exact  too  much.  Nor  did  her  grati- 
tude die  in  an  hour,  but  again  and  again  would 
she  refer  to  some  trifling  act,  wondering  how 
one  who  deserved  so  little  kindness  should  re- 
ceive so  much.  Her  disregard  of  every  thing 
personal,  and  thoughtfulness  of  others,  lived  on 
to  the  last ;  and  this,  too,  through  years  of  dis- 


OF    MRS.    LOUISE    LIVINGSTON.  7 

ease  so  protracted,  and  pain  so  acute,  that  they 
might  well  have  engendered  selfishness. 

When  about  to  remove  to  her  city  residence 
in  the  autumn,  the  day  of  her  parting  with 
those  neighbors  whose  kindness  she  had  en- 
joyed during  the  summer  was,  to  her,  an  event- 
ful one.  You  have  not  forgotten, — you  will 
never  forget, — the  last  visit  she  paid  you.  Her 
feebleness  was  extreme,  but  her  love  for  you 
triumphed  over  it.  On  that  bright  November 
afternoon,  bearing  flowers,  and  other  parting  to- 
kens, she  was  placed  in  her  carriage,  and  after 
passing  from  door  to  door  to  bid  you  her  scarce 
audible  farewell,  and  to  receive  the  expression 
of  your  heartfelt  good  wishes,  she  returned 
home  exclaiming,  "  This  has  indeed  been  pleas- 
ant." But  I  must  not  speak  longer  here.  If 
we  trust  in  her  Saviour  we  shall  meet  her 
again. 


The  last  of  a  generation  has  passed  away. 
The  sons  and  daughters  of  Judge  Livingston 
are  now  all  in  the  world  of  spirits.  She,  whose 
departure  we  mourn  to-day,  entered  the  family 


8       REMARKS  MADE  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

circle  a  stranger,  was  received  as  a  sister  be- 
loved, and  for  more  than  half  a  century  her 
rare  natural  endowments,  her  finished  culture, 
her  womanly  dignity  and  grace,  have  been  con- 
sidered a  family  possession.  Now  that  all  are 
taken  away,  and  we  are  engaged  in  funeral  so- 
lemnities which  must  remind  us  of  the  virtues 
of  the  large  family  of  which  she  was  such  an 
ornament,  it  may  well  be  conceded  that  the 
memory  of  what  they  did,  and  of  what  they 
were,  fills  us  with  gladness  in  the  midst  of  our 
sorrow.  There  were  bright  examples  of  patriot- 
ism and  of  piety  in  that  circle,  which  belong  as 
a  legacy,  not  only  to  their  immediate  descend- 
ants, but  to  the  whole  country  and  the  entire 
Church. 

Mrs.  Livingston's  mental  endowments  placed 
her  above  the  generality  of  her  sex,  and  quali- 
fied her  to  become  the  counsellor,  as  well  as  the 
companion,  of  one  of  the  ablest  men  our  coun- 
try has  produced.  He  found  strength  and  wis- 
dom in  her  words.  Others  of  the  family  circle, 
as  well  as  himself,  would  often  appeal  to  her 
superior  judgment,  and  seek  a  refuge  in  her 
ever-ready  sympathy ;  and  they  never  left  her 


OF    MRS.    LOUISE    LIVINGSTON.  9 

without  a  response  which  proved  the  depth  of 
her  affection  for  them.  They  were  all  dear  to 
her,  but  it  has  been  truly  said  that  the  one  in 
sorrow  or  distress  ever  seemed  nearest  to  her 
heart.  Her  suavity  and  cordiality  you  have 
admired,  but  you  have  more  than  admired  her 
faculty  of  placing  at  once  into  a  position  of  ease, 
the  most  inferior  capacity  which  came  in  con- 
tact with  her  highly  gifted  mind.  She  never 
sought  to  shine  at  the  expense  of  others,  and, 
without  apparent  condescension,  she  adapted 
herself  to  the  society  she  might  be  in,  leaving 
all  the  better  pleased  with  themselves  for  their 
intercourse  with  her.  But  I  am  not  attempting 
a  careful  analysis  of  Mrs.  Livingston's  character, 
and  turn  now  to  speak  of  her  religious  life. 
In  doing  this  I  shall  introduce,  in  a  casual  way, 
as  much  of  her  personal  history,  and  refer  to 
as  many  of  her  distinguishing  characteristics, 
as  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion  will  allow. 

Long  before  she  felt  that  she  was  a  child  of 
God  by  faith  in  Christ,  she  had  fixed  habits  of 
private  devotion,  and  even  while  journeying, 
no  degree  of  weariness,  or  peculiarities  in  her 
surroundings,  could  prevent  her  from  reading 


10     REMARKS  MADE  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

God's  word  before  retiring  to  rest.  She  loved 
to  trace  the  abiding  influence  of  religion  in  her 
heart  to  the  impressive  bearing  of  a  sister  seen 
for  the  first  time.  It  was  that  sister  by  whose 
side  she  will  soon  be  placed  to  rest  until  the 
morning  of  the  Resurrection.  The  simple  dig- 
nity of  holiness,  united  with  meekness  and  ten- 
derness, struck  one  whose  mind  was  prepared 
to  appreciate  these  heavenly  qualities,  and  the 
impression,  never  effaced,  resulted  in  an  inter- 
course peculiarly  blessed  to  her.  What  a  touch- 
ing comment  upon  the  sacred  words :  "  Ye  are 
the  light  of  the  world  !"  Oh,  for  more  of  such 
luminous  characters  in  the  Church ! 

After  her  husband's  death,  while  still  in  her 
meridian,  she  withdrew  from  the  world,  and 
during  twenty-four  years  of  widowhood  her 
thoughts  were  turned,  as  they  had  not  been 
before,  to  that  better  portion  which  the  grace 
of  God  had  enabled  her  to  seek.  For  many 
years  she  endured  an  amount  of  physical  suf- 
fering which  it  falls  to  the  lot  of  but  few  to 
meet,  yet  so  rich  and  abundant  have  been  her 
spiritual  consolations,  that  she  often  spoke  of 
months  of  confinement  and  acute  pain  as  the 


OF    MRS.    LOUISE    LIVINGSTON.  11 

happiest  periods  of  her  life.  The  world  had 
given  her  the  best  it  had  to  bestow.  She  knew 
the  value  of  its  pleasures,  its  honors,  its  wealth. 
They  did  not  satisfy  her,  and  she  looked  up  for 
the  only  portion  that  can  fill  the  void  in  an 
immortal  soul.  Her  religious  experiences  and 
professions  were  influenced  by  marked  peculi- 
arities of  mind  and  temperament.  She  enter- 
tained the  strongest  aversion  for  religious  cant. 
The  dealings  of  God's  spirit  with  the  human 
soul,  she  thought  too  sacred  to  be  spoken  of 
in  conventional  terms,  or  under  circumstances 
which  might  deprive  the  subject  of  its  solem- 
nity. Her  humility  was  unobtrusive  and  real. 
I  have  rarely  met  with  one  more  inclined  to 
self-depreciation.  This  tendency  I  think  great- 
ly marred  her  Christian  comfort.  It  was  not  as 
easy  for  her  as  for  some  to  cast  the  soul  upon 
Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  sinners.  Perhaps  her 
long  retirement,  and  consequent  habits  of  intro- 
spection, revealed  to  her  more  of  the  natural 
depravity  of  the  human  heart  than  those  can 
discover  who  live  more  in  things  outwrard.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  I  am  sure  that  sin  was  exceeding- 
ly sinful  in  her  sight.  But,  to  the  praise  of  God 


12     REMARKS  MADE  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

be  it  spoken,  there  were  many  seasons  when 
she  felt  that  Jesus  was  very  near  to  her.  The 
glories  of  the  plan  of  Redemption  seemed  then 
to  light  up  her  whole  mind,  and  she  felt,  with 
the  wannest  gratitude,  its  marvellous  adapta- 
tion to  the  wants  of  every  sinner.  This  glance 
at  her  religious  life  would  be  more  than  incom- 
plete if  I  omitted  to  speak  of  her  unusual  faith 
in  the  special  providence  of  God.  If  she  could 
not  at  first  easily  trust  Him  as  her  Redeemer 
from  sin,  she  did  implicitly  believe  that  the 
care  extended  to  the  birds  of  the  air  would 
never  be  withheld  from  those  destined  to  an 
immortal  life.  Convinced  that  nothing  can  be 
trifling  in  the  sight  of  Him  with  whom  nothing 
is  great,  she  looked  up  in  every  event  of  life 
for  direction  and  comfort.  Nothing  was  un- 
dertaken without  a  previous  invocation  of  the 
Divine  blessing,  and  the  yearly  departure  from 
one  home  and  arrival  at  the  other  was  always 
sanctified  by  prayer.  We  cannot  wonder  at 
her  faith  in  Providence  if  we  consider  the  mar- 
vellous manner  in  which  she  had  been  led.  Tru- 
ly her  ways  were  out  of  the  beaten  path.  Few 
lives  were  more  chequered  than  hers.  Born  in 


OF    MRS.    LOUISE    LIVINGSTON.  13 

St.  Domingo,  of  wealthy  and  highly  cultivated 
parents,  nurtured  in  the  lap  of  luxury  and  in- 
dulgence, and  tossed  by  the  storm  of  a  fearful 
revolution  on  a  strange  land,  there  to  contend 
with  reverses  which,  admirably  borne,  soon 
gave  way  to  a  career  as  fall  of  honors  and 
dignities  as  the  most  ambitious  could  desire, 
she  was  disciplined  to  a  trust  in  God's  fatherly 
care.  Her  childhood  was  passed  in  that  beauti- 
ful island  where  the  sound  of  the  language  she 
afterward  regarded  as  the  one  best  adapted  to 
man's  intercourse  with  God  had  never  struck 
her  ear;  where  vital  piety  was  a  thing  unknown ; 
where  all  influences  tended  to  rivet  her  desires 
to  a  world  which  promised  unbounded  delights 
to  one  never  taught  to  look  beyond  it ;  where, 
rarely  precocious  in  intellect,  she  was  suffered 
to  roam  at  will  through  large  libraries  filled 
with  every  thing  poisonous  as  well  as  nutri- 
tious, and  was  saved  from  injury  by  high  and 
generous  instincts,  and  not  by  religious  princi- 
ple. Then  followed  her  youth,  during  which 
the  unclouded  prospects  of  earlier  years  gave 
way  to  fearful  scenes.  There  was  pillage  and 
bloodshed.  There  were  flights  by  night  illu- 


14     REMARKS  MADE  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

mined  by  the  glare  of  blazing  homes;  wand- 
erings through  tangled  forests ;  long  hours  spent 
crouching  amid  rank  vegetation,  the  only  shel- 
ter from  the  violence  of  murderous  pursuers; 
and  then  rescue  at  the  hands  of  a  faithful  trem- 
bling slave,  whose  stealthy  steps,  as  they  crush- 
ed the  dry  branches,  made  the  heart  beat  with 
fear  and  then  with  joy.  These  scenes  of  horror 
were  followed  by  exile  in  a  strange  land,  and 
by  misfortunes  which  others,  with  spirits  less 
buoyant,  could  scarcely  have  borne.  Then  came 
other  scenes,  where  all  her  rare  endowments 
and  acquirements  found  a  proper  sphere  for 
their  display.  All  this,  to  human  eye  did  not 
seem  to  lead  here.  The  child  who  sported 
under  the  palm  tree  of  a  tropical  clime,  the 
young  girl  who  fled  from  infuriated  murderers, 
the  woman  as  conspicuous  for  her  personal 
charms  as  for  her  strong  and  brilliant  intellect, 
who  was  set  up  in  a  high  place  where  all  could 
admire,  was  led  at  length  to  seek  rest  for  her 
soul  at  the  altar  of  the  village  church,  where 
she  has  again  been  brought  after  a  quarter  of 
a  century  of  a  life  as  quiet  and  even  as  the 
former  part  of  it  was  agitated  and  varied. 


OF    MRS.    LOUISE    LIVINGSTON.  15 

We  will  not  wonder,  then,  that  she  trusted 
in  the  guiding  love  of  God. 

She  became  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  many  years  since.  She  was  not 
sectarian,  for  she  loved  the  image  of  Christ 
wherever  she  found  it,  but  she  did  have  a 
decided  attachment  to  the  clear  doctrines,  and, 
above  all,  to  the  simple  usages  of  the  Church 
of  her  choice.  She  enjoyed  the  public  minis- 
trations of  God's  house,  as  those  only  can  enjoy 
them  to  whom  they  are  often  denied.  She  has 
frequently  declared  that  the  happiest  hours  of 
her  life  have  been  spent  in  this  sanctuary,  where 
we  are  now  gathered  in  sadness.  The  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  a  delight  unto 
her.  Some  who  hear  me  will  remember  the 
touching  scene  at  this  altar,  a  twelvemonth 
since,  when  she  received,  for  the  last  time,  the 
consecrated  emblems  of  the  broken  body  and 
shed  blood  of  her  Redeemer.  Too  feeble  to 
approach  herself,  she  was  borne  in  the  arms  of 
a  faithful  attendant  to  the  table  of  the  Lord, 
and  again  borne  from  it.  Her  bodily  weakness 
was,  I  doubt  not,  in  keeping  with  her  sense  of 
spiritual  un worthiness.  It  could  hardly  have 


16     REMARKS  MADE  AT  THE  FUNERAL 

been  anticipated  then  that  so  long  a  time  would 
elapse  before  she  would  go  to  partake  of  the 
new  wine  in  the  kingdom  above. 

The  bitter  sorrow  which  her  death  has  occa- 
sioned is  mingled  with  pleasant  thoughts  of 
God's  peculiar  mercy  to  her  in  the  close  of  her 
life.  On  Monday  last  she  seemed  unusually 
well.  The  night  before  had  been  a  happy  one, 
— so  happy  that  she  said  to  a  loved  one  in  the 
morning,  "  Oh !  I  have  had  such  a  sweet,  sweet 
night,  filled  with  the  presence  of  God !"  Be- 
fore evening  she  was  very  ill,  and  was  much  of 
the  time  unconscious,  until  about  five  o'clock  on 
Wednesday  morning,  when  she  fell  asleep  in 
Jesus,  as  a  babe  would  fall  asleep  in  the  arms 
of  its  mother.  She  will  never  welcome  us  again 
to  her  mansion  on  earth.  God  grant  us  all  grace 
so  to  live  that  we  may  receive  her  warm  wel- 
come in  the  mansion  above ! 


"  How  blest  the  righteous  when  he  dies ! 

When  sinks  a  weary  soul  to  rest ! 
How  mildly  beam  the  closing  eyes  ! 

How  gently  heaves  the  expiring  breast ! 


OF    MRS.    LOUISE    LIVINGSTON.  17 

"  So  fades  a  summer  cloud  away ; 

So  sinks  the  gale  when  storms  are  o'er ; 
So  gently  shuts  the  eye  of  day ; 
So  dies  a  wave  along  the  shore. 

"  A  holy  quiet  reigns  around, — 

A  calm  which  life  nor  death  destroys  ; 
And  naught  disturbs  that  peace  profound 
Which  his  unfettered  soul  enjoys. 

"  Farewell,  conflicting  hopes  and  fears, 

Where  lights  and  shades  alternate  dwell ! 
How  bright  the  unchanging  morn  appears ! 
Farewell,  inconstant  world,  farewell ! 

"Life's  labor  done,  as  sinks  the  clay, 

Light  from  its  load  the  spirit  flies, 
While  heaven  and  earth  combine  to  say, — 
How  blest  the  righteous  when  he  dies !" 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


198., 

•Ittf 


3  1158  01186  8717 


;  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


II    III  INI  I  I 

A    001  156381     4 


